Ayre

Ayre, also spelled air, genre of solo song with lute accompaniment that flourished in England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The outstanding composers in the genre were the poet and composer Thomas Campion and the lutenist John Dowland, whose “Flow, my teares” (“Lachrimae”) became so popular that a large number of continental and English instrumental pieces were based on its melody. Other leading composers included John Danyel, Robert Jones, Michael Cavendish, Francis Pilkington, Philip Rosseter, and Alfonso Ferrabosco.

Generally, ayres are graceful, elegant, polished, often strophic songs (i.e., songs having the same music for each stanza), typically dealing with amorous subjects. But many are lively and animated, full of rhythmic subtleties, while others are deeply emotional works that gain much of their effect from bold, expressive harmonies and striking melodic lines.

The ayre developed during a European trend toward accompanied solo song (in place of songs for several voices). Chansons, madrigals, and other polyphonic songs were frequently published in versions for voice and lute, and books of ayres often provided for optional performance by several singers, by having, opposite the solo and lute version, the three additional voice parts printed so that they could be read from three sides of a table. (See alsoair de cour.)

In the 17th century the scope of the term ayre (and its variants) expanded to include various instrumental pieces. Most of these were movements of dance suites scored primarily for viols or members of the violin family. Notable composers of instrumental ayres included John Jenkins and Simon Ives.